Nina Dobrev and Shaun White’s whirlwind romance got very serious, very quickly.
The Vampire Diaries alum and the professional snowboarder sparked dating rumors in February 2020 when fans noticed that they had shared similar photos from a trip to South Africa. Us Weekly broke the news the following April that Dobrev and White were, in fact, a couple.
After the twosome made their relationship Instagram official in May 2020, things continued to heat up even as they balanced their respective schedules and careers.
“We have a nice little system of how to stay in touch [and] plane tickets are pretty much booked for any opportunity that we can go see one another,” White exclusively told Us in October 2021. “You just make it work. … I think that’s the goal of it all and the key to it all is just making the time. [Nina’s] super organized and on top of it, so I give it to her. She always finds a way to make it happen.”
Scroll down to see a timeline of Dobrev and White’s relationship:
February 2020
The Perks of Being a Wallflower star and the X Games gold medalist shared several snaps from their South African safari in February 2020. Although they did not pose together in any of the pictures, eagle-eyed Instagram users were quick to point out that they were always in the same location.
March 2020
The couple were spotted enjoying a bike ride in Malibu in March 2020 with one of White’s dogs in tow.
April 2020
After Dobrev shared a video of herself and the ESPY Award winner washing their groceries in April 2020, a source exclusively told Us that they were an item.
May 2020
“Adding to resume: hairdresser,” the model joked in the caption of her first Instagram post with White in May 2020.
August 2020
The lovebirds locked lips during their trip to Tulum, Mexico, in August 2020.
November 2020
The twosome celebrated their first Thanksgiving together in November 2020. “I’m so thankful to be surrounded by so much love!!” White captioned an Instagram post featuring photos of their family gathering. “Getting older and watching my family continue to grow has been incredible. Hope everyone out there had an amazing thanksgiving!”
December 2020
The pair posed for the perfect end-of-fall photo with autumn leaves as their background in December 2020. “Catch me if you can,” Dobrev captioned the cute shot.
December 2020
While participating in an Instagram challenge in December 2020, Dobrev uploaded the very first photo the couple ever took together.
January 2021
White celebrated Dobrev’s 32nd birthday by posting a series of goofy photos. “Too bad we never have any fun together …” he wrote via Instagram, adding winking, champagne and party emojis. “Happy birthday baby!”
January 2021
Dobrev shared a clip via her Instagram Story on January 16 that showed her practicing at a shooting club. “When you ask him to take a video of you shooting…” she captioned the post, in which White zoomed in on her butt while she aimed the rifle.
June 2021
The Olympian, who binge-watched Dobrev’s show The Vampire Diaries, exclusively told Us Weekly about their one-year anniversary celebration. “I wanted to recreate our first date, but everything was closed,” he explained. “I managed to sweet talk the owner of the place to open up for us. It was actually pretty fun to have a place all to ourselves.” He added that Dobrev can easily keep up with him on the slopes, calling her “pretty talented on the snowboard.”
June 2021
The couple posed against a rainbow wall as they enjoyed their first party since the pandemic.
September 2021
“The person in this photo is the funniest, most charming, sexiest, and hardest working person I know. The other person is my boyfriend,” the actress captioned a photo of the couple on his 35th birthday via Instagram. “Happy birthday baby, thank you for always being older than me. @shaunwhite.”
October 2021
The couple celebrated Halloween Queens Gambit style with the help of pal Adam Devine. While Dobrev dressed as Thomas Brodie Sangster’s Benny Watts, White put on a red wig to be Anya Taylor Joy’s Beth Harmon and the Pitch Perfect actor was a chess piece.
“Your move @anyataylorjoy ♟👑,” White captioned a series of snaps.
January 2022
Dobrev shared sweet snaps from a trip to the slopes with her snowboarding beau. “Snow daze,” she captioned the goofy photos.
January 2022
“LFG! Beijing babbbbbbbyyy @shaunwhite,” Dobrev gushed via her Instagram Story on January 15 after the snowboarder made the Olympic team. “So proud of you. Time to celebrate.”
January 2022
The Olympian exclusively told Us about how a last-minute trip to South Africa made him realize that their romance was more than a fling. Dobrev was filming Redeeming Love in South Africa and invited White to come visit her on location.
“That was actually how we kind of started our relationship,” told Us in January 2022 while promoting his CELSIUS Energy Drink partnership. “I was like, ‘All right. Yeah. OK.’ And she [thought], ‘Oh, this guy, he came to play. He’s serious.’”
January 2022
Talking is key for the couple. “The problems that we do face, they kind of fall away through communication. It’s just been great,” gushed to Us ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
The Fresh Vine Wine cofounder cheered on her man as he prepared to join Team USA again. “She’s just been so incredibly supportive,” the athlete said. “She’s like, ‘Hey, I’m here to help you … how do I help you?’ It’s not about her. She’s just been so giving in that sense.”
White added that the actress has “this overwhelming kindness and care for people,” a quality that he adores. He continued, telling Us, “She wants to elevate the people around her. It’s such a beautiful thing, especially in today’s world. … To have that kind of a caring quality still is really special.”
January 2022
“I am really excited for him,” Nina told E!’s Daily Pop on Tuesday, January 25. “Just to get into the Olympics at all is one of the hugest accomplishments, let alone to get in five times. I’m so excited. I’m so proud of him.”
January 2022
While filming a TikTok video, the athlete was interrupted by his girlfriend and dog Maverick.
February 2022
“We’ll be anxiously watching from home and cheering him on,” Dobrev exclusively told Us of her plans to watch White compete at the Olympics. “I’m very, very excited for him. I can’t wait.”The One director revealed that she supports her boyfriend in “whatever decision he makes” after White previously claimed that the 2022 Beijing Olympics would be his last. “He’s had such an incredibly long and amazing, successful run of the sport,” she added. “He knows when the time is to throw the hat in, and he’s decided that it’s now.”
February 2022
“By your side every step of the way,” Dobrev captioned an Instagram Story slide while watching her beau’s Beijing Olympics snowboarding qualifiers.
February 2022
Dobrev praised her beau after he finished his final Olympics run in fourth place. “I am in awe of you. Today we are celebrating you,” she wrote via Instagram. “Your hard work. Your passion. Your determination. Your talent. Your class. Your fearlessness. Your courage. Your soul. Your heart. YOUR LEGACY. I couldn’t be more proud. Of everything you have accomplished over the last 20 years as a competitor and the man you have become. You are one of a kind. The end of one chapter, means the beginning of another. You will forever be the G.O.A.T. of snowboarding. Not to mention you are also the G.(B).O.A.T. = Greatest Boyfriend Of All Time.”
February 2022
“He’s home,” Dobrev captioned an Instagram Story photo of her and her beau at Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles, days after his final Olympics appearance. Both wore personalized Rams jerseys. White shared a video of them enjoying Mickey Guyton’s national anthem performance via his own Instagram Story.
February 2022
Dobrev kicked off their Valentine’s celebration with a sweet poem. “Rose’s are red violets are blue how great is it that I’m still not sick of you. I’m yours no refunds,” she wrote via Instagram with a “happy valentine’s day” hashtag.
“Nature finds a way …. Happy Valentine’s Day @Nina ❤️,” White captioned a hilarious photo of the couple kissing through face shields.
February 2022
Dobrev is to thank for White’s first Super Bowl trip, which happened right after his final Olympics.
“My girlfriend said, ‘If you’re retiring, you’ve gotta make this list of things you want to do,'” White recalled during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at the time. “Pretty close to the top of the list was, ‘Go to a Super Bowl,’ because it’s always during the competitive season — I’ve never been to one. So I landed, said hi to everyone … and went straight to the Super Bowl.”
February 2022
“Congratulations on a monumental career,” Dobrev wrote while sharing White’s letter about his final Olympic run via Instagram.
The athlete re-shared her message via his own Instagram Story, and he added some videos to reveal how he’s spending retirement. He and his girlfriend were enjoying some warm weather at what appeared to be a lake.
White showed Dobrev’s dog following him on a dock to see his love, who was floating on a paddle board in the water. “Retirement,” he captioned the peaceful clip.
March 2022
“Celebrating the 🐐 and bringing back the 👩🏻🦰 one last time,” Dobrev captioned an Instagram slideshow of pics from her boyfriend’s retirement party.
March 2022
The duo jetted off to Costa Rica for a tropical getaway that featured pool hangs, cocktails and sunbathing
March 2022
“Accidentally got into a Fendi bender in Costa Rica,” the Redeeming Love actress captioned a series of vacation photos on March 20.
April 2022
The pair were spotted cuddling up to one another while attending the second weekend of Coachella.
April 2022
White opened up about watching Dobrev on The Vampire Diaries while answering fan questions on TikTok. “I wasn’t going to see her for, like, three months so I was like, ‘Oh, this will be cool, I’ll start the show.’ I’ll see her without seeing her,” he explained. “It was cool, but it got a little dark. She was, like, the love interest of all the guys on the show and I found myself really rooting for them. I’m like, ‘Am I in the way?’ I don’t know if that was healthy or not, but I did watch the show and it was really funny.”
April 2022
The duo partied in the desert for Coachella Music Festival weekend two. “Coachella and back. @worldofmark thanks for the ride 🤝,” White wrote via Instagram after the event.
May 2022
The retired athlete joined Dobrev in Greece while she was in town filming a new movie. “I’ll be zooming from here today, and forever. c u never,” she captioned a series of ocean-filled photos. Dobrev later shared snaps with White sipping Tiki drinks on one of the Greek islands.
May 2022
The duo stepped out in London for the Top Gun: Maverick premiere to support pal Miles Teller and Dobrev’s ex-boyfriend Glen Powell. The event marked the actress and the athlete’s first red carpet as a couple.
May 2022
Days after their red carpet debut, the duo headed to France to attend another glamorous event, a charity gala for Ukrainian refugees. The lovebirds struck a pose at the Hollywood Domino’s With Love For Peace Gala in partnership with PCI Media and USA for UNHCR (the United Nations Refugee Agency).
May 2022
The happy couple attended the Cannes Film Festival together. “Cannes you believe it ,” the Olympian captioned an Instagram photo of him and Dobrev dressed up for the event. “At times I Cannes not,” the Degrassi alum commented.
June 2022
“Schedule for the next week: eat. sleep. burn. apply aloe. repeat,” the Perks of Being a Wallflower actress captioned a series of Instagram photos from her and White’s vacation to the Maldives. Before their arrival, they enjoyed a layover in Dubai.
June 2022
During their beach vacation, Dobrev sipped a cocktail out of a glass while her man went the traditional route with a coconut.
July 2022
The couple enjoyed a star-studded double date night with Miles and Keleigh Teller at a UFC fight night in Las Vegas, which Dobrev chronicled in a TikTok video that included appearances from Chris Pratt and Shaquille O’Neal.
July 2022
Since competing in the Winter Olympics in February 2022, White exclusively told Us that in addition to travelling around the world and continuing to snowboard, he passed on some special skills to his love. “I’m teaching Nina how to surf currently. She’s so talented as a snowboarder, which is great, because I’ve been in past relationships when they couldn’t snowboard and I’m a terrible coach. I’m like, ‘You just do it!’” the athlete revealed. “But now she’s got the surfing bug. She’s excited about it, so now we’re trying to find places we can go surf and vacation and hang … She caught like seven waves in Hawaii and it was like she was feeling it, yeah!”
August 2022
The lovebirds attended their pals Sarah Hyland and Wells Adams’ wedding together. “Congratulations on your beautiful wedding day,” White captioned a carousel of Instagram photos from the nuptials.
September 2022
The Final Girls actress celebrated her beau’s birthday with a lighthearted Instagram post. “I really picked a winner (and he really picked a booger). Happy belated birthday, you weirdo. My weirdo,” she captioned a photo of White with his finger up her nose.
September 2022
Us confirmed that the pair moved in together in New York City, with a source exclusively revealing that White and Dobrev were “excited to explore the city together” and “soak up all the alone time they can” before their schedules get even busier.
October 2022
White proved the couple still had their sense of humor by posting a video reacting to his girlfriend’s Degrassi: The Next Generation scene where her character, Mia, tries out for the cheerleading squad.
The clip, which is a duet with Dobrev, starts with White watching the scene unfold before he starts following along with the Vampire Diaries alum’s character.
The Olympic medalist busts out some cheer moves and kicks up his legs exactly like Nina before asking, “Did I make the team?”
December 2022
The twosome picked out their first New York City Christmas tree.
December 2022
Dobrev and White celebrated Christmas with both of their families in Mexico.
January 2023
“So F-ing cuteeee!!! Nina and I obviously… not the penguins,” White jokingly captioned an Instagram snap from the pair’s Antarctica vacation.
February 2023
“They’ve definitely discussed making things official,” an insider exclusively told Us. “They’ve talked about getting married, having kids, the whole nine yards.” The pair feel like “this is the year they take their relationship to the next level,” the source said.
September 2023
White cuddled Dobrev on the red carpet at the annual Albie Awards, which is hosted by the Clooney Foundation for Justice.
July 2024
Dobrev and White stepped out in style at the 2024 Prelude to the Olympics, held at Paris’ Fondation Louis Vuitton.
“The tension that’s at the Olympics, it’s like you feel it. It’s this thick kind of air,” White previously told Us in May of attending the Games after his retirement. “When you walk into any one of the stadiums where they’re competing, you feel that sort of pressure and that excitement.”
At the time, he speculated that Dobrev’s excellent French language skills would come in handy. (Dobrev’s mom lives in the South of France.)
October 2024
White proposed after four years of dating.
“RIP boyfriend, hello fiancé 💍♾️,” Dobrev captioned engagement photos via Instagram.
